1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to indoor position or location estimations of mobile communication devices and, more particularly, to techniques for utilizing a mobile device to learn parameters of a radio heat map for use in or with mobile communication devices.
2. Information
Mobile communication devices, such as, for example, cellular telephones, portable navigation units, laptop computers, personal digital assistants, or the like are becoming more common every day. Certain mobile communication devices, such as, for example, location-aware cellular telephones, smart telephones, or the like may assist users in estimating their geographic locations by providing positioning assistance data obtained or gathered from various systems. For example, in an outdoor environment, certain mobile communication devices may obtain an estimate of their geographic location or so-called “position fix” by acquiring wireless signals from a satellite positioning system (SPS), such as the global positioning system (GPS) or other like Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), cellular base station, etc. via a cellular telephone or other wireless communications network. Acquired wireless signals may, for example, be processed by or at a mobile communication device, and its location may be estimated using known techniques, such as Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT), base station identification, or the like.
In an indoor environment, certain mobile communication devices may be unable to reliably receive or acquire satellite or like wireless signals to facilitate or support one or more position estimation techniques. At times, an indoor location of a mobile communication device may be estimated via radio heat map signature matching, for example, in which current characteristics of wireless signals received at the device are compared with expected or previously measured signal characteristics stored as heat map values in a database. In some instances, however, such as in larger indoor or like environments with multiple floors, access points, or feasible routes, for example, a radio heat map may be quite voluminous or comprehensive so as to tax available bandwidth in wireless communication links, memory of a mobile communication device, or the like. This may, for example, increase power consumption of mobile communication devices with limited power resources (e.g., battery-operated, etc.), thus, affecting operating lifetime or overall utility of such devices.